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Alex Berenson

Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence Hardcover – January 8, 2019

by Alex Berenson (Author)

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An eye-opening report from an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug—facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis.

Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states. Almost all Americans believe the drug should be legal for medical use. Advocates argue cannabis can help everyone from veterans to cancer sufferers. But legalization has been built on myths– that marijuana arrests fill prisons; that most doctors want to use cannabis as medicine; that it can somehow stem the opiate epidemic; that it is not just harmless but beneficial for mental health. In this meticulously reported book, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, explodes those myths:

• Almost no one is in prison for marijuana;
• A tiny fraction of doctors write most authorizations for medical marijuana, mostly for people who have already used;
• Marijuana use is linked to opiate and cocaine use. Since 2008, the US and Canada have seen soaring marijuana use and an opiate epidemic. Britain has falling marijuana use and no epidemic;
• Most of all, THC—the chemical in marijuana responsible for the drug’s high—can cause psychotic episodes. After decades of studies, scientists no longer seriously debate if marijuana causes psychosis.

Psychosis brings violence, and cannabis-linked violence is spreading. In the four states that first legalized, murders have risen 25 percent since legalization, even more than the recent national increase. In Uruguay, which allowed retail sales in July 2017, murders have soared this year.

Berenson’s reporting ranges from the London institute that is home to the scientists who helped prove the cannabis-psychosis link to the Colorado prison where a man now serves a thirty-year sentence after eating a THC-laced candy bar and killing his wife. He sticks to the facts, and they are devastating.

With the US already gripped by one drug epidemic, this book will make readers reconsider if marijuana use is worth the risk.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Free Press
Publication date

January 8, 2019
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.9 x 8.38 inches
ISBN-10

1982103663
ISBN-13

978-1982103668
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Alex Berenson] has a reporter's tenacity, a novelist's imagination, and an outsider's knack for asking intemperate questions. The result is disturbing." -- ―Malcolm Gladwell ― The New Yorker

“Takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit.” ― ―Mother Jones

“A brilliant antidote to all the…false narratives about pot out there.” ― ―American Thinker

“An intensively researched and passionate dissent from the now prevailing view that marijuana is relatively harmless.” ― ―The Marshall Project

"Berenson has done an important public service...[Tell Your Children] could save a few lives." ― ―The Guardian

"The stakes are high...aren't we better off listening to Berenson than to some marijuana magnate?" ― ―The Spectator

"An interesting book that should be read by all concerned." ― ―The Washington Times

"Filled with statistics that shock." ― ―The Times of London

About the Author

Alex Berenson is a former New York Times reporter and award-winning novelist. He attended Yale University and joined the Times in 1999, where he covered everything from the drug industry to Hurricane Katrina and served as a correspondent in Iraq. In 2006, The Faithful Spy, his debut novel, won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel. He has since written twelve more novels and a nonfiction book, Tell Your Children. Currently, he lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife and children.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Free Press (January 8, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982103663
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982103668
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #133,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #46 in Cultural Policy
- #73 in Schizophrenia (Books)
- #180 in Sociological Study of Medicine

Customer Reviews:
1,081 ratings

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Alex Berenson

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As a reporter for The New York Times, Alex Berenson has covered topics ranging from the occupation of Iraq to the flooding of New Orleans to the financial crimes of Bernie Madoff.

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4 star		9%
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2 star		1%
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Barbara Messina

This is just the beginning of investigating the downsides of marijuana commercialization

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book does an excellent job of examining the link between cannabis use, mental illness and violence. Many cannabis advocates claim that cannabis makes you chill, and for many users that is undoubtedly true. But for many other users, it causes paranoia and triggers underlying psychosis which can lead to all manner of bad outcomes including violence. Although the media hasn't really explored the links until this book, it is troubling that many of the most notorious terrorists and mass murderers of our time were heavy cannabis users including Timothy McVeigh, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Denver bomber James Holmes, Jodi Arias, many of the recent terrorists in Europe and many more. You can say that "correlation does not prove causation," but the correlations that his book exposes are too extensive to ignore. It makes a compelling case that more research is required before rushing into commercialization of this drug.

Perhaps even more importantly, we are ignoring the negative societal effects of pot use, particularly in vulnerable people and communities. People from solid backgrounds can often smoke pot and still function as productive citizens. These people often don't see the negative effects it has on people and communities without resources and privilege. I went to high school in a rural, lower income town in the 1970's, and 40 years later, everyone I knew who smoked pot in high school is either dead or in a very bad place. You can say "correlation doesn't prove causation" all you want, but you do so at the risk of ignoring the huge amount of evidence and red flags out there.

Thank you to the author for being willing to withstand the blowback from cannabis advocates and profiteers who vilify and intimidate anyone who dares to explore the downside of marijuana commercialization. The public needs to know all the facts and more research needs to be done.

566 people found this helpful

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Watchman

Reefer Madness in the Age of the New Jim Crow

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2019

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One of the most surprising things about this book is the blame he places on the American media for the public approval of cannabis legalization. "Marijuana's advocates have the money, the cultural gatekeepers, and the elite media," on their side, he writes.

As a former New York Times reporter, Berenson might seem a bit ungrateful, and never more so than in the past week or so. He's gotten more good press than 1930s drug warrior Harry Anslinger could have dreamed of. As you may see from the showcased reviews on this page, they even include Mother Jones and the New Yorker. The Mother Jones writer reported his views as uncritically as if she were reading from a police report, without being so rude as to seek an opinion from a single other source. Malcolm Gladwell also followed the "one phone call, one story" rule that would get a reporter at a small town newspaper fired. Berenson gave his bro a Twitter shout-out for the great "plug," a sign of Gladwell's objectivity on the issue. (BTW, if you'd care to know about genius-whisperer Gladwell's reputation for mangling social theory, google his "Outliers" book on misinformation about, among other things, the reason the Beatles succeeded.)

He does have his critics as well. Most have pointed out the most obvious fault of the book, simply that correlation does not equal causation. It's happened often enough that the axiom now seems to infuriate his followers. But it stubbornly remains a cornerstone of rational thought.

Those critics include people whose work Berenson hijacked to make his argument. He quotes one study as having established pot as a cause of psychosis, a conclusion that he trumpets as “arguably the most important finding of all.” Trouble is, some of those who worked on the study don't buy his case.

Ziva Cooper is a pharmacologist and cannabis researcher. She was one of the co-authors of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that Berenson cites. Cooper didn't care for the Berenson's breezy use of the study's statistics and has been anything but quiet about it. On Twitter, she called him out for his fear-mongering NYT op-ed. “In response to the recent @NYTimes editorial on cannabis and as a committee member on the @theNASEM #cannabis and #cannabinoids report we did NOT conclude that cannabis causes schizophrenia.” What Berenson didn't like, he just left out, according to Cooper. The association “between cannabis use and IMPROVED cognitive outcomes in individuals with psychotic disorders (not mentioned in the editorial)” is a fact Berenson tossed out the window.

But to be fair, could he be right, despite flawed use of sources? Yes. Researchers have found a connection between psychosis and cannabis consumption. Unhappily for his ominous conclusion, they've also found similar links between this mental illness and nicotine, alcohol and caffeine. In a study of 2 million Swedes, smoking cigarettes was a predictive sign of psychosis. The more a tobacco smoker smoked, the higher the risk.

He applies the same shoot from the hip approach to impaired driving. "The risk of marijuana-impaired driving appears higher than previously understood," he writes. "In states that have legalized recreational marijuana, fatal car accidents where drivers have only THC in their blood and not alcohol or other drugs are soaring." But unlike for alcohol, there’s no standard impairment threshold for pot in a breath, blood, urine or saliva tests. You could find THC today in the body of someone who last smoked on New Year's Eve.

Some of his warnings are comic in their melodrama. He cautions us that the Pen-ts'ao Ching, an ancient Chinese pharmacology text claimed that cannabis smoking caused "seeing devils." Berenson admits he's taking the "Reefer Madness" mantle for the 21st Century, drawing the words of the title from that lurid grindhouse classic of the 1930s. His style even takes on the fainting-couch tone of that era. “The black tide of psychosis and the red tide of violence are rising together on a green wave, slow and steady and certain," he writes. Even Anslinger would have told this guy to take a deep breath once in a while.

Far more dangerous are his policy recommendations. He urges a return to decriminalization, the very approach that he damns earlier in the book for its pernicious effect on 1970s smokers. "Decriminalization puts marijuana in a twilight zone, neither legal nor illegal," Berenson writes. That's a good thing, at least in his world. "Decriminalization sharply reduces the civil rights concerns that drug policy groups raise."

Yes, if you gloss over inconvenient facts the way Berenson does, decrim pretty much makes civil rights (of other people) a moot point. Unless you happen to be black in a decriminalized place like the writer's home town. NYC does exactly what he argues for, and guess what? You're eight times more likely to be arrested there if you're black, even though whites use cannabis at a slightly higher rate. It's just one reason that Michelle Alexander called her book on the drug war "The New Jim Crow."

He doesn't dodge the issue. I grudgingly give him credit for the head-on bluster with which he meets racial objections to his favorite drug war. (At least you know where he stands.) He charges directly at people who point out that African Americans nationwide were arrested at 2 to 3 times as often as whites for marijuana use, despite similar rates of use.

"The groups skimmed over the fact that 'similar' didn't mean the same; federal surveys showed that African Americans used marijuana somewhat more than whites, and those black people who did use tended to be heavier smokers," he writes. He goes on to quote a survey showing that "black people were almost twice as likely to report marijuana abuse or dependence as whites."

But "somewhat more" doesn't mean 2-3 times more. And heavy smoking is no more illegal than light smoking. Police don't charge people for the number of times they use the drug, only for possession. Do black people get charged by the toke?

He says he's not a prohibitionist. And that's hogwash. Of course, he's a prohibitionist. In 2019, decriminalization has become the fallback position of almost every drug warrior who has had to face the music about the damage prohibition has caused.

And this is where this book crosses the line from being one more anti-legalization screed into one that can serious damage.

Under his decriminalization utopia, users will only suffer the damage that an arrest record brings, a quite acceptable price for the author as long as it's happening to people less important than this media-damning New York Timesman (who has smoked marijuana without being arrested). The people who grow this substance (completely fair game for the incarceration industry in Berenson's book) will spend cumulative millions of years behind bars. Nickel-dime arrests will escalate into confrontations that leave young African Americans dead. And this guy will be sitting on his rear in a newsroom or television studio, telling some sympathetic interviewer that this 81-year-old drug war, with a tweak or two, is working out just fine for everyone.

NOTE: Berenson has written that he and his family have been threatened on social media after publication of his work. I'd like to add my voice to those that revile such tactics and urge others who disagree with him to do so civilly, within the constraints of common decency.

500 people found this helpful

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RJ

No evidence!

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

There is not 1 citation in the book. I was looking for a bibliography where I can read the research that led to the author’s conclusion. We would not accept a book that says “ studies show marijuana cures cancer” without citing evidence. Why should we accept a book that says it causes violence, etc., without evidence. Very disappointing.

314 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

Has issues, but raises vital questions for pot lovers.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

First off, I had a few issues with the book, not least the lack of footnotes or endnotes. It's better to think of it as a manifesto rather than scholarship.

But so what? The pro pot side is digging its own grave with how vehement it's being that pot is GREAT, that there are NO risks or problems with it at ALL, in fact all problems are NOT problems and anyway, it's all the fault of prohibiting it rather than the drug itself. They are gleefully skipping past the civil liberties arguments on to no restrictions whatsoever, not even on issues like drug driving or its use by minors.

This book is a very necessary corrective. The fact that it's being grasped with such relief by people who felt unable to articulate their concerns before this should be a wake up call for people who want weed this become and stay legal. (I will never know why these people didn't simultaneously campaign against driving while high, or against advertising to children, if only to reassure people. And, no, it's not that they lack the money, considering the money in the pot lobby.)

The reaction hasn't been encouraging. It has ranged from mockery to fury to blindly stating he's trolling. The fact remains that people throughout the ages have noticed marijuana use having negative effects, at least for some people, and almost none of the medical claims for The drug have been substantiated. Blindly snarling at anyone who expresses concern at this, to be frank, makes pot supporters look like junkies and leeches off the wider community.

This is a very necessary reaction to that.

But it's still a vital piece

12 people found this helpful

RIMS

Get it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

It's not the best written book. And it's fighting a losing battle against the liberalisation lobby.
I'm sure there are people who have/can use it with relative impunity. But it is not what it is made out to be. It is not a safe drug, a large proportion of users have long term mental changes, and a significant proportion develop severe psychotic illnesses. Seriously. The crazed killer stuff.
But even at the mild end it's associated with depression, psychological malaise. And it permanently affects teenage brain development.
I got it for my son. He dismissed it, argued, etc. Like they do. All their peers do it, it's become the evening social pint.
But having read it he's changed. Less moody, more cheerful, more chilled. I think he took it on board thank God. I am truly grateful.

4 people found this helpful

Marta Di Forti

Outstanding and engaging narrative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

This books is a rare and compelling combination of journalistic rigor, elegant writing and engaging style. A unique appraisal of the sociological and scientific facts feeding the never ending debate on the good and bad of the most popular recreational drug in the world.
A "must" read for everyone that can read or listen...I highly recommend the audio version

9 people found this helpful

John Patrick Corkery

Pandora’s Box

Reviewed in Canada on January 13, 2019

Verified Purchase

After reading this book I’ve begun to suspect we’ve all been recruited to take part in a massive social experiment not of our own choosing. I’ve thought in the past the only difference between alcohol and cannabis was the level of availability. Now that this barrier has been removed we’ll get to see what the effects of cannabis use are in the daylight. I’ve a bad feeling that Mr. Berenson’s fears are all too real but it’ll take a decade or more for results to appear that even the mainstream media can’t ignore. After that it won’t be scientists leading charge against “Big Cannabis” but lawyers seeking big payouts in class action suits. It would all be very interesting if it wasn’t for all the dead bodies that’ll pile up along the way.

8 people found this helpful

Barbara Russell

Tell Your Friends, Family, Co-Workers...

Reviewed in Canada on March 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

I bought this book because after experiencing how cannabis affected my brother, I want to be able to make a compelling argument to my own children why they should refrain from using the drug. My hope is that facts and scientific evidence that their uncle is not an exception will have a greater impact than just my raw emotions.

The last chapter,in a nutshell, tells us that while not everyone who smokes gets cancer, the risk of its happening is an effective deterent for most of us when it comes to tobacco use. People deserve to make informed decisions and know the possible consequences of their choices.

The problem for pro cannabis advocates is that the public knowing they may become dependent, psychotic or schizophrenic, may scare them more then cancer or heart disease. Those organs can be transplanted at least. We only ever get to have one brain.

I would post a pic, but the most affecting one I have is too tragic.

7 people found this helpful

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